Wednesday’s Best Reviewed: Arrow

With an episode that spares nothing on action, Arrow, The CW’s original little quirky superhero show that could takes this sweeps month night with its fourth season’s penultimate episode. Other than critical catnip, The Americans (and even that venerated show has an off night reviews-wise, at least by its standards), it’s a night of a hundred mehs. Blackish offers up a great premise for its finale — a message-driven Good Timesparody, Laurence Fishburne as John Amos, etc. — but the grades don’t match the genius. Even Nashville can’t pull sympathy raves as it gets set to sail into oblivion. There IS one thing we can count on — Empire comes in dead last. Empire!

Arrow rests its success on a simple premise, an affable dark hero, and action. As Vulture‘s Jenny Raftery elegantly states “‘Lost in the Flood’ perfectly encapsulates everything that drew me into Arrow in the first place: great performances, stellar stunts, witty dialogue, weighty themes, and a surprise death.” Alasdair Wilkins at AV Club is a bit less glowing, but gives the episode credit as “the perfect setup for next week’s finale.”